RAMALLAH, January 24, 2018 (WAFA) – News about the general strike that was observed on Tuesday in the occupied West Bank hit the front page of the three Palestinian Arabic dailies on Wednesday.

Al-Quds, al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said a general strike was observed on Tuesday in the occupied West Bank in protest against a visit by US Vice President Mike Pence to the old city of Jerusalem and US recognition of the holy city as capital of Israel.

Shops, banks, schools, government offices, businesses and public transportation were shut down heeding the call by the political forces for the strike. Hospitals and clinics and educational facilities were excluded from the strike.

The three dailies also reported on clashes that erupted in the West Bank on Tuesday. They said Israeli forces shot and injured two Palestinian youths after they allegedly attempted to carry out a stabbing attack at Za’atara military checkpoint, south of Nablus.

They also said that Israeli forces detained two Palestinian minors during clashes with in Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem in the southern West Bank.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida said President Mahmoud Abbas met on Tuesday with Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, where he briefed him on the situation in Palestine and the region following the US decision recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Abbas thanked Belgium for its support for Palestinian rights.

Al-Quds said that a source told the newspaper that US President Donald Trump is expected to announce his peace plan in the first half of March.

Pence said the timing of launching Trump’s peace plan depends on the return of Palestinians to negotiations, according to al-Ayyam.

Al-Ayyam said that Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman banned songs and works of poet and songwriter Yehonatan Geffen from Army Radio after he wrote a song dedicated to imprisoned Palestinian child, Ahed Tamimi, 16, where he compared her to Anne Frank.

The municipality of Gennevilliers, a northern French suburb of Paris, said that it would recognize the state of Palestine, according to al-Hayat al-Jadida.

An ad by the cellular phone company, Jawwal, announcing the start of 3G network service in Palestine after many years of efforts to get Israel, which controls the Palestinian airwaves, to approve it has occupied almost two thirds of the front page in the three dailies.

K.T./M.K.